To supplement this extraordinary show, we now have on view for a brief few weeks ( until October 10, 2011) two splendid examples of Rembrandt’s paintings, the Portrait of a Bearded Man in Red Doublet of 1633 (above left) from a private collection and Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo of 1658 ( above right) from Otto Naumann Ltd. These constitute the first paintings and drawings by Rembrandt ever exhibited at the Bruce Museum. The paintings provide excellent examples of the master’s early and late style. The painting of 1633 attests to youthful Rembrandt’s famous ability to bring his sitters vividly to life and demonstrates the style that made him the most-sought-after portraitist of his day in Amsterdam. The man’s lifelike expression is complemented by his bright red doublet, an unusually colorful outfit, very different from the somber black attire usually worn by Rembrandt’s patrons. The sitter’s identity has not yet been discovered, but the doublet and braid fastenings had military associations and it has been speculated that he might have been a foreign soldier residing in the year of its commission in The Hague.

In contrast, The Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo offers an excellent example of Rembrandt’s later, more painterly and tenebrous style. It depicts a young bearded man in his prime, posed three-quarter length and frontally, his hands on his hips and his steady gaze meeting the viewer’s with confidence bordering on defiance. It was painted in the year that Rembrandt was forced to vacate his house and art collection following his declaration of bankruptcy in 1656. The subject’s identity once again is unknown, indeed, notwithstanding his individualized features, it is not even certain that the painting is a portrait. However, by the early nineteenth century the work was called a “Portrait of a Dutch Admiral.” While his brown doublet, sash and beret were not elements of everyday attire in the seventeenth century, the subject’s pose, with arms akimbo, also had military and specifically nautical associations, suggesting that he may have been a member of the burgeoning maritime community in Amsterdam. Whoever the sitter is, the painting is a fine example of Rembrandt’s bold late manner, a style which increasingly fell out of favor with the rise of international Classicism in the Netherlands.